A UNITED PUBLICATION VOLUME 13, NUMBER 3 MARCH 2001 • $7.00

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Hope rises for Royal Kunia The Honolulu city council is moving toward conces-sion on impact fee for Robin Nelson layout 3

Palmer Golf refocuses After pulling out of the Harding Park contract, Palmer Golf renews emphasis on core strengths 31

C O U R S E D E V E L O P M E N T

C O U R S E M A N A G E M E N T

MACCURRACH GOLF ON A WINNING STREAK MacCurrach Golf Construction claimed its second Golf Course News Large Builder of the Year Award at this year's show in Dallas. Glase Golf Construction won the top prize for the Small Builder of the Year. For these stories and a show wrap-up see page 27.

Developer bulldozing new Greg Norman course By JAY F I N E G A N

GOLF COURSE

New weapons to rid courses of geese 9 Water rates on the rise north of Houston 9 Tools of the Trade at Tyler's Salem CC 10

Norman's Doonbeg unfolding in Ireland 15 Q&A with Robin Nelson 21 Elkington makes design debut in Texas 23

Total Golf on the move in Michigan 31 Freeman Golf backs off acquisitions 32 Smyers forms management firm 33

Andersons unveils new branding strategy 37 AGROTAIN readies UMAXX 37 Simplot Partners buys two in the West 41

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In one of the weirdest reversals ever seen in golf development, a brand new Greg Norman-designed layout here, Stonehaven Golf Course, will be bulldozed back to raw earth and rebuilt virtually from scratch under a plan by Tom Fazio.

Indeed, nearly everything about the property is changing - the owner, the developer, even the name. The new course is being called Mirabel Golf Club. Where Stonehaven was a daily-fee facility, Mirabel

Continued on page 24 View of Norman s Stonehaven, a course never to be played

Club Car and E-Z-GO enter adaptive golf car market B y A N D R E W O V E R B E C K

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Citing a need to make golf courses more acces-sible, both Club Car and E-Z-GO have unveiled plans to enter the adaptive golf car market. The mar-ket for such adaptive cars is po-tentially huge according the golf car manufacturers. Of the 50 mil-lion disabled people in the U n i t e d States, four to seven million are potential golfers.

Versions of the compa-nies' adaptive cars were rolled out at both the PGA show in Or-lando and GCSAA show in Dallas, much to the delight of fellow competitors in the niche business who feel the entry of the "big two" will help to validate the need for the vehicles.

"For the past five years, I have

A prototype of Club Car's 1-PASS in action

been saying that courses need to be purchasing these cars," said Nick Pike, president of Mobility Solutions in Southington, Ohio. "With Club Car and E-Z-GO getting involved, people will take more notice of the needs of handicapped golfers."

CLUB CAR While the oj-ner companies in the

market are p r i m a r i l y start-ups or spinoffs from larger mobil-ity scooter c o n c e r n s , both Club Car and E-Z-GO have formed strategic alli-ances to get an immediate foothold in the market.

Club Car's 1-PASS ve-hicle will be

manufactured by Englewood, Colo.-based SoloRider Industries, which has nearly eight years of experi-ence in the field.

Continued on page 44

Ex-PGA president Addis launches Medallion Golf By JAY F I N E G A N

SAN DIEGO — Tom Addis III, presi-dent of the PGA of America in 1995 and '96, has teamed up with 14 other golf industry professionals to launch Medal-lion Golf, a full-service management firm. The new company, based here in San Diego, will train its m a r k e t i n g sights on Cali-fornia, Ari-zona, Nevada and Utah.

"My main goal is to have four to six fa-cilities in our portfolio in the next two years, courses that we either own, lease or manage," said Addis, Medallion's president and operations chief. "We don't want to spread our-selves too thin while we're getting es-tablished. We plan to take a very hands-on approach to every project."

Addis has decades of salient experience. Continued on page 36

Tom Addis

P E R I O D I C A L Florida drought approaching crisis B y J O E L J O Y N E R

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In its third year of drought, the moisture-starved state of Florida has learned that the worst is yet to come.

Expecting little rainfall before May, as hot and dry weather patterns sweep across the region, golf courses in central Florida

will encounter more dry lake beds and harsher water restrictions.

"When the national drought people show a map of the continental United States, there's a huge bulls-eye that cov-ers Florida from northern Orlando to

Continued on page 11

THE NEWSPAPER FOR THE GOLF COURSE INDUSTRY

S U P P L I E R B U S I N E S S

C O U R S E M A I N T E N A N C E

Norman's Stonehaven to become Fazio's Mirabel Continued from page 1

will be an upscale, invitation-only private club. And where Stonehaven was designed as a rather tough course, Mirabel will be configured in a "member-friendly" fashion.

A COURSE NEVER TO BE PLAYED

We'll never know much about S tonehaven. Al though the

course was completed and play-able, it never had a chance to officially open before a shift in ownership and strategy sealed its doom.

Apparently, however, it was a fine course - "a great test of golf with tremendous beauty," said Michael Meldman, CEO of San Francisco-based Discovery Land

Co., the new developer. The original owner, the New

York investment banking firm Lehman Brothers, also seemed happy with the final product. "Greg produced an exceptional course at Stonehaven," said Bob Turner, a Lehman vice president. "We wanted a challenging daily-fee golf course, and he more than Norman's Stonehaven, to be transformed by Fazio

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PRESIDENTIAL GREEN CHEMISTRY CHALLENGE WINNER

delivered on our requirements." At the Greg Norman Golf

Course Design Company, in Jupi-ter, Fla., there's some sadness over the demise of Stonehaven. "We're disappointed that a great course will never be played," said spokes-man John Story. "Greg has offi-cially opened every golf course he ever built. Not this time. But a developer is entitled to do what they want with that project."

Norman himself took the news stoically. "We understand and respect the new owner's change in philosophy," he said.

MAXIMIZING THE REAL ESTATE

Evidently, none of Stonehaven's attributes mattered to Discovery Land officials. "We bought the property as if there was no golf course there," said Bob Lomax, director of sales for Mirabel. "Ba-sically, we'll bulldoze the Norman course and start over. The aim is to make the highest and best use of the property. It's not Greg Norman's fault."

The odd chain of events was set in motion when Lehman Brothers sold the property to Terrabrook, a Texas-based man-ager of pension funds with $3 billion under portfolio. Terrabrook in turn contacted Discovery Land, a developer of such heralded golf clubs as Estancia, also here in Scottsdale, Iron Horse in Montana, and Blue Oaks in California.

"When Terrabrook called us in to look at the project, we im-mediately thought the value of the real estate would be maxi-mized by the high-end private-club concept, mostly because of the quality of the land and the ex t raord inary views," said Meldman. "The golf course Greg Norman designed would have made a terrific daily-fee facility. However, a private golf club de-mands a different style of play. Its members will likely have higher handicaps and play the course almost daily."

The land itself, 713 acres of gently rolling desert terrain, is in north Scottdale's high-rent district. The Desert Mountain Club - home of five Jack Nicklaus courses where building lots fetch up to $10 million - lies right across the street. The property sits at an elevation of 3,000 feet, high above the Valley of the Sun, with panoramic views of Pinnacle Peak, the Bradshaw Range and

Continued on next page

GOLF COURSE NEWS

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Norman course Continued from previous page

the McDowell Mountains. DOUBLING THE COST

To fit Mirabel's new require-ments, Discovery brought in Tom Fazio to design a new course. The cost is estimated to be nearly double the amount spent on the original layout. Discovery Land and Fazio have teamed up before on Iron Horse, Estancia and three other projects.

"It's not that we thought Greg Norman couldn't come in and make the changes," Lomax said. "It's just that we had a lot of confi-dence in Fazio. He recently opened a Scottsdale office, so working with his group would be very convenient." And as Meldman put it, "We need a fresh perspective.on the entire project."

Landscapes Unlimited, builder of Stonehaven, has been called back to deconstruct its original work and sculpt out the 7,200-yard Mirabel track. Sprinkler heads and other in-ground hard-ware are being removed in prepa-ration for the earthmoving.

"Bulldozing the golf course is not a big deal," said Lomax. "There's a lot of stuff there - the pumps and lakes - that we can reuse, so it's not a total throw-away. But we do have to till up the turf that's there and so on."

Fazio will be tasked with de-signing a more forgiving course than the one Norman produced.

"There are 37 forced carries on the Norman course. We don't think that's appropriate for mem-ber-friendly play," Lomax ex-plained. "We'll have ways for

Olde Farm Continued from page 17

"We wanted to build a club that is true golf," said McGlothlin on the genesis of The Olde Farm. "We wanted an upscale place for the person who loves golf, its his-tory and tradition. The Olde Farm is totally private-no homes, no development. We have several members of Augusta National and Pine Valley who are members here."

Mcglothlin said the fact that The Olde Farm is not the primary club for its members and the decision to limit the number of members enhances the feeling of exclusiv-ity and privacy at The Olde Farm. Last year the course averaged about 19 rounds a day.

The course is already working to exceed expectations.

"We hope to keep improving and make the top 100 courses in America," said the club's general manager, Bill Miller. "Everything went like clockwork with this course. We've got a strong staff. Our head pro [Rob McKenzie] and superintendent [Mark Eubanks] and the people who work for them are very dedicated." •

high handicappers to reach the greens without having to fly over bunkers. We'll also have nice wide fairways with bigger land-ing areas and contouring that will allow the balls to stay in play. Right now, if you miss it slightly, the ball kicks into the desert.

"Just like we did at Estancia," he added, "we'll have a course that can be challenging from the

back tees. But with multiple tees, if you want to fire from a little further forward, it will be enjoy-able for golfers of all levels."

REAL ESTATE COMPONENT Discovery plans to sell 375

memberships and offer some 310 custom homesites, ranging up to three acres and priced any-where from $250,000 to $600,000. Forty-five golf villas also will be built close to the "desert-lodge"

style clubhouse and other ameni-ties, such as tennis courts and swimming pools.

Initiation fees will run $85,000, according to Lomax, with monthly golf dues in the $650 range and social dues yet to be established.

Discovery officials predict a strong demand for the club. "There are a lot of people com-ing to Scottsdale who want to

buy a second home," Lomax said. "And there's a certain demo-graphic that wants a smaller, more intimate facility - a place where they know all the mem-bers, where the staff knows them, and where they'll be well taken care of. It's hard to do that at Desert Mountain, with 2,500 members. We're positioning this the same way as Estancia, which is now sold out." •

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